Wise Feedback for Academic Growth Amanda Gustafson MA

Wise Feedback for Academic Growth Amanda Gustafson, MA

Wise Feedback Three parts • Clarify your motivation/describe the feedback being given • Reinforce high standards • Assurance of student’s ability • Adapted from https: //www. interventioncentral. org/sites/default/files/pdfs_bl og/student_motivation_wise_feedback. pdf

Example • Clarify your motivation/describe the feedback being given – • “The purpose of this assignment is to give you practice evaluating a written argument and recognizing logical fallacies. I’ve highlighted fallacies you missed” • Reinforce high standards – • “After this class you will be able to critique arguments made in everyday situations as well as formal writing and able to identify fallacies in action. ” • Assurance of student’s ability – • “In your paper you identified two fallacies well, and missed two others. With practice you can get them all. ”

Another example • Clarify your motivation/describe the feedback being given • “I’ve looked over your project and identified areas for improvement” • Reinforce high standards – • “This is a challenging task. You are being asked to create a presentation that would be appropriate in a work environment” • Assurance of student’s ability – • “I know from your discussions in class that you will be able to use this feedback to polish the presentation and increase its persuasiveness. ”

This can also be done in a group setting • High standards – • “One of the course objectives is to apply economic theories to real world scenarios. ” • Feedback description – • “I have read your exams and written comments where you made mistakes or did not explain your reasoning. ” • Assurance of student ability • Judging from the past work that I have seen from each of you, I know that you can recognize examples. My comments will help you be able to create your own examples for the next test. ”

Further Advice • Try not to pair wise feedback with grades. Students may take the grade and ignore the feedback. If possible give wise feedback on drafts to use for revision. • Keep the high standards on student feedback. Over-praising mediocre or poor work can set a low bar and backfire. Students may feel that the faculty member has low expectations of them. Consider the module on praise for examples of growth mindset encouragement. • Use wise feedback with groups. When handing back assignments, tests, etc. • https: //www. interventioncentral. org/sites/default/files/pdfs_bl og/student_motivation_wise_feedback. pdf